Toronto’s Dorothea Paas is today sharing her new single, "Waves Rising", coming just ahead of her debut album, Anything Can't Happen which is out this Friday, May 7 via Telephone Explosion.
The record was put together between Hamilton, ON and Toronto with mixing duties helmed by Max Turnbull (Badge Èpoque, U.S. Girls) and Steve Chahley whilst taking in members of Little Kid and Robin of Bernice. Over the last decade or so, Paas has worked with a number of Toronto-based projects, cementing herself as something of a stalwart in the city – these include (but are in no way limited to) U.S. Girls, Jennifer Castle, Badge Èpoque Ensemble and more.
Anything Can't Happen arrives from Doro's own push/pull relationship with the church, Paas initially felt uncomfortable about religion's utilising of music to control people and their emotions – now, however, Paas wants to tap into that idea, questioning the power and ability that music has to cause transcendence.
I find her way with lyrics to be pretty compelling, offering these fairy straight forward observations but embedding them with this universal wisdom which to me feels quite a feat given it's only her debut record – there's a lot more depth to this than the debut would necessarily suggest.
"When the pieces first came together, it was about trying to escape but never being able to move on; like chasing after something intangible,” said The Backstays’ Serenna Chapman of single ‘Forever Gold Bricks.’ “I'd say this is a cautionary tale about how running away, towards empty, superficial things ultimately never works."
That push and pull mark the defining faultline of Tributaries, The Backstays’ debut album (released 05/01). A meeting point between heartland rock songwriting and darker, atmospheric indie rock, Tributaries sees the band experimenting with a more expansive sound that equally evokes new wave and post-punk.
"’Forever Gold Bricks’ is meant to be part of the ebb and flow of the album,” said The Backstays’ Pete Johnston (he/him). “Because so much of making this record was us learning how to fit these different sonic elements together, we wanted to take each song somewhere new, to see what sounds lent themselves to different stories."
Emerging artist, Izzy Gazelle makes her way onto the rock scene with raw passion. Her new single “DOWN” is determined to cut out all the unnecessary noise. The hard-hitting track is released today May 4 on music streaming platforms.
Written and produced by Izzy, “DOWN” was inspired by the current sociopolitical climate. She says, “I think we're in a place in history where we have an abundance of information, some of which can be misleading around political or social justice issues and so I want this song to promote the idea of standing up for one’s self and staying curious about the facts and truths as opposed to being mere consumers of information." Her vocals are raw and reinforce her message with urgency, singing “Do you wanna get on your knees?... Don't you let me down,” amping up the bass and rhythmic riffs on the drums. She’s made the choices clear—fall at the mercy of deception or stand against it.
Izzy Gazelle is an artist based in Boston, Massachusetts. She describes her sound as a combination of raw rock & roll and blues with extra sauce. She cites Howlin’ Wolf, Tina Turner, Led Zeppelin, James Brown, Queens of the Stone Age, Bad Brains, and Jimi Hendrix among her influences. Izzy kick-started her music career in 2019 with a vibey stripped-down psychedelic rock cover of Post Malone’s “Sunflower”. She followed up with a dramatic slow-building, thought-provoking “sleep tonight” single in the wake of George Floyd protests and social injustice in 2020. A modern DIY artist, she writes and produces to fully establish her vision. She is currently writing new material.
“To me, it’s about making good noise and bringing good vibes— the good, the bad, and the ugly even when it makes us uncomfortable.” says Izzy.
New Welsh outfit 'BOI' have announced their highly anticipated debut album entitled 'Coron O Chwinc' which will be released on the 25th June via new Welsh label Recordiau Crwn. The first single from the album is 'Cael Chdi Nol.'
'BOI' create a big, melodic, unapologetically drum and guitar driven sound, with lyrics and melodies that explore the big issues of our times and the human state. These 10 songs off “Coron O Chwinc” were recorded in various spaces around Wales, and were then mixed in the capable hands of Dafydd Ieuan (Super Furry Animals)
Band Members are: Keyboards/Allweddellau - Osian Gwynedd, Lead Vocals/Canwr - Rhodri Siôn, Guitar/Gitâr - Ifan Emlyn, Bass/Gitâr Fas - Heledd Mair Watkins, Drums/Drymiau - Dafydd Owen.
Osian Gwynedd and Rhodri Siôn were members of Beganifs/Big Leaves for 15 years and more, and recorded several albums and EPs under various labels, with their hits including Seithenyn, Meillionen, Cwcwll and many more. The group gained huge success in Wales during the 1990 and 2000s and performed throughout the UK and further afield with bands such as Catatonia and Super Furry Animals. Their English-language single Racing Birds was Single of the Week on Mark and Lard’s Radio 1 show.
Somewhere deep within the diverse collective of alt country music lies the story telling cadence of Frecko.
Inspired by the romance of Australian story, Jason and Jack Freckelton, create music that celebrates the simple moments in life including love, loss and everything in between.
“The Note” is the fourth single lifted from their second album due for release later this year and takes us straight to the scene of the crime. Jangled guitar riffs and shuffling drumbeats set the mood for a song about love, revenge and consequence.
Produced by Golden Guitar winner, Lachlan Bryan and co-conspirator, Damien Cafarella - “The Note” - plays on the tension of the scene and showcases the band’s trademark dark humour. Frecko’s new single, “The Note”, is out now.
All-female Blind River, ON-based singer/songwriter trio Women in Song reflect on the hopes and dreams of their parents who have suffered from, and eventually and sadly succumbed to Alzheimer’s Disease in this, their new single, ”But I Knew Her When” — available now.
The touching and ethereal song is the latest to land from the Ontario-based all-female group’s debut LP, Life of a Woman. “But I Knew Her When” is a prime example of what to expect from Women in Song…
It takes chunks of inspiration from the likes of folk, pop and country music and fuses them all together into something beautiful, and features an astonishing progression of chorus-heavy chords on the acoustic guitar, the soothing melody of an airy violin, and the beautiful, yet haunting vocal harmonies of singers Lois O'Hanley-Jones, Debbie Rivard and Patty Dunlop. Women in Song are based out of the small town of Blind River, ON — just off the North Shore of Lake Huron — and began performing together over 20 years ago after a conversation at the kitchen table.
Though the tightly-knit troupe has been together for more than two decades, Life of a Woman serves as their premiere studio album. The record was released in mid-January, and inspired by the ladies’ respective families, friends and fans — from near and far. The concept of the 13-track album, according to the talented musicians, is the “reflection of the reality of our lives.”
“It speaks to women having a career and a family, having arguments with their children, having our children leave home and ultimately that we are good enough,” the trio revealed. “Our album is a perfect homage to women — to the Life of a Woman — as the title suggests.” Along with the rest of the album, “But I Knew Her When” was written, recorded, and produced in Blind River at the local Riverview Studios. The ladies like to call the charming hamlet the “Nashville of the North.”
Succinctly describing what they’re all about, the group called Women in Song a “musical experience that aims to delight your musical sensibilities and tickle your funny bone.” “We are fortunate that not only are we musically compatible but we are good friends. Every rehearsal contains tears and laughter,” the ladies concluded.
Columbus Ohio's Go Analog dropped the official video for the song "Wait" from last year's Moonlight Gram today. In addition to the video the EP is also officially available on vinyl as of now!
Go Analog is back with a new EP recorded at the Oxide Shed in Athens, Ohio with producer/ engineer Eddie Ashworth (Sublime). The four piece band has been a mainstay in the Midwest for over a decade, but has not released any new songs in years.
The songs for Moonlight Gram began to come together during a few stripped down jam sessions following a time when the band had not even hung out let alone played together for nearly a year. As the lyrics came and the sonics of the songs began to fill out, they knew they had to get back into the studio and lay them down.
Over five days Moonlight Gram was recorded with Ashworth helping them see their vision to fruition. The resulting EP is a wonderful throwback to early to mid 90s indie rock. With a guitar driven sound surrounding Eric Croft’s vocals the songs take on relationships both past and present, the situation the world finds itself in, and a bit of self awareness that only time passing can create. All of this wrapped in away that only good rock n roll can.
Grammy nominated singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist and founding member of The Hooters, Eric Bazilian, is set to release his fifth and final single prior to the release of his long-awaited new album Bazilian. Titled “Back In The 80s,” the song may at first seem like a glorified look back on a very successful time (the heyday of The Hooters)—a simple nostalgic ode in a time of isolation. The melodic, yet measured pop track is in fact an ode to appreciating all that life has to offer, the highs and lows and of being in the moment.
The wry, quirky video conceived and directed by Max Tellving provides the perfect backdrop to the track as it takes old tymey imagery and turns it on its head to encompass a much wider perspective than anticipated. Bazilian produced and mixed the track and plays guitars, bass, keyboards and mandola. The Hooters’ David Uosikkinen provided drums from his home in Philadelphia and Steve Churchyard (formerly of Air Studios in London), provided help with the mixing. “Back In The 80s” was released on April 30 and the new album will be available May 14.
Says Bazilian: “I did a podcast with a Medium last spring. She told me that my father had a message ‘from the other side’-- that there was a song I’d given up on that I needed to finish. I wrote the chorus to ‘Back In The 80s’ the next day, and, with some help from James Bourne of the legendary British band Busted, I wrote the third verse a couple of days later. As glorified as that decade has been (and as kind as it was to me and my band, The Hooters), I feel no more sentimental attachment to it than I do to any of the other decades that gave us great music. If anything, the song is about appreciating the time we live in for all its beauty as well as its faults and frailties.
The video was conceived, directed, shot, and edited by Max Tellving in Sweden, the same person who has done many of my earlier videos such as ‘One Light,’ and ‘Happy Birthday’ (with James Bourne). His concept was to set the video in the 1880s (or 1780s) rather than the expected 1980s, but to include several timely visual ‘Easter eggs.’ We shot the video in my wife’s home town of Järvsö, four hours north of Stockholm, in the summer of 2020.”
Belle Tower is the lo-fi indie folk rock project of Isabella Harned, found at the intersection of life experience in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal and Xwilkway/Halfmoon Bay.
Isolation, solitude, pain, love and healing are key themes at the heart of Belle Tower’s collection; songs that are heavy in their vulnerability, but that simultaneously carry you weightless through the processing of emotions.
With contributions from main collaborators Ben Robertson (Winona Forever, Schwey), Scott Boudreau (Mauno), and strings from Audreanne Fillion (Lovelet, Crusssh), Belle Tower showcases ethereal vocals, dreamy guitar lines, and varied layered instrumentation resounding a sonic lightness in the new EP ‘tend to’, which was out April 27th, 2021.
"Kindred Spirit," the first single from songcrafter Annie Keating's forthcoming album (Bristol County Tides).
The song is about finding commonality in our humanity and brokenness; the narrator is speaking about someone that has become a special part of the narrator's life, acknowledging that life's experiences have shaped the narrator and the narrator's friend, and finding the common threads of hardship that make the bond formed between them even stronger.
Annie's new LP, Bristol County Tides (out on June 4th), pays tribute to relationships forged in difficult times - Annie, who lives in Brooklyn, relocated herself and her children to coastal Massachusetts to wait out the pandemic.
She was treated with kindness and compassion and inclusion by her new neighbors, her city-raised children became country kids, learning to fish and all of that fun stuff, and she was able to write for the first time in a while. This album tells the stories of the love given and friendships forged in the middle of major hardship and pays homage to the people who embraced her and welcomed her family with open arms.
"Good Morning Sunshine" was inspired by dreary hazy mornings, when you wake up and don't want to do the things you’re supposed to do, with your mind more prone to wander.
Recorded live off the floor in Toronto, it's from our rock n roll-inspired sophomore album, Born 2 Boogie, which will be released on June 25 as we try to make sense of the human experience following our collective anxiety in this uneasy state of the world.
It's important to find time to unwind. The Dutch even have a word for it, niksen, the concept of doing nothing. It's supposed to be a stress reliever.
Let's remember that we're all in the same boat. Different lived experiences, but we all share those introspective humdrum days.
Dallas native Bayleigh Cheek began her love affair with music at an early age thanks to her immersive upbringing. Both parents were in the music scene, exposing her to a variety of sounds ranging from psychedelic and folk to progressive rock and new wave.
Some of her personal music influences include Patti Smith, P.J. Harvey, Radiohead, and Angel Olsen. Those influences led to the creation of her EP, Immortals, that was self-released in early 2020 which brought her DOMA nominations for Best New Artist and Best EP.
In early 2021, she signed with Red Zeppelin Records, which will re-release Immortals as well as her debut album which is set for release in early 2022.
Cheek has frequently performed venues such as The Kessler Theatre, House of Blues, Three Links, opening for acts including Matthew Sweet, and Dallas natives Medicine Man Revival playing consistently for the past five years.
With two critically-acclaimed albums, one EP and five singles under their collective belts, Welsh Music Prize-nominated Cymrucana pioneers Climbing Trees return this spring after three years of hibernation with brand new single Troubling Times. Released via Staylittle Music and distributed by The Orchard and PYST.
Recorded in isolation at Mwnci Studios in Hebron, Carmarthenshire – the setting for the band’s critically-acclaimed albums Hebron and Borders – Troubling Times marks the Trees’ first studio material since 2018’s Borders: Acoustic B Sides EP, released at the end of an eventful few years which included shows in the UK, Europe and USA alongside numerous television, radio and festival appearances, a live session at London’s iconic Maida Vale Studios and a performance with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.
As the band’s frontman Matthew Frederick remarks; ‘We decided to take a year off in 2018 to spend a little time on our various solo and side projects. Before we knew it, two years had passed, then three, and a whole lot has happened in the world in that time. We didn’t want to come back until we had something to say, and, more importantly, a good song to say it with, and Troubling Times certainly feels timely in that sense. We’ve really enjoyed making music as Climbing Trees again, and we can’t wait to get back out on stage in front of the Trees fans, whenever that may be…’
Michael Lane releases the happy upbeat indie folk single "Good Times" on April 30th. Although 'Good Times’ is a very upbeat and happy song, it still has a more serious and deeper meaning. Without getting too much into it, in the song I’m basically saying that, just because you surround yourself with a new house or nice car, doesn’t mean it will give you more happiness in the long run.“ Michael Lane explains. If there is a modern folk-pop artist who has seen the harsh realities in life, it is Michael Lane himself.
As a US soldier in his twenties, sent to Iraq and Afghanistan, Michael was forced to live at cruelty. And if his previous albums were like a kind of musical diary in which these experiences were reflected, Michael Lane's regained ease and joy can clearly be seen in Good Times“.
The song is a message of hope and positive certainty that a time of crisis will lead people back to the important things. Successes such as two top 50 songs in the German charts, four albums, international tours and the single "Liberty" as the official song of the 2015/2016 Four Hills Tournament, Europe’s biggest international ski jump event, have made the German-American known to the public. In addition to his work as a musician, Michael Lane is currently also active as a songwriter for production music and as a music producer in his remote "Studio Waldblick“.
Bethany Ferrie, a 23-year-old singer/songwriter from Glasgow who has recently been shortlisted for the BBC Radio Scotland Singer/Songwriter Award and signed her first publishing contract in 2020, releases her new single, Bones, on the 30th of April 2021.
The track, written in the midst of lockdowns and an upturned world, is about reminiscing, letting go and opening up.
Bethany takes a wide range of influences when it comes to crafting her music: from the likes of Fleetwood Mac to Lewis Capaldi, Kings of Leon to Taylor Swift.
Hunter Sheridan is a Canadian musician whose music delivers soulful songwriting with warm melodies that weave a euphoric atmosphere. Hunter’s writing highlights honest lyrics and dynamic arrangements connecting with listeners across music genres.
Hunter released his debut album, Life is a Dream, in May 2020 and has reached over 100k streams cross-platform. He is now following up with a new single, “To You, My Friend,” which highlights the beauty in the briefness of life, and how important it is to show gratitude, support and appreciation to the ones you love while pursuing your own passions.
Don’t let the title fool you... The folk music forecast just got brighter and livelier with the release of “The Wind of Death” from Canadian acoustic quartet, Samways.
The second single to drop ahead of the group’s forthcoming debut album, the song juxtaposes a muscular, driving rhythm and sunny vocal harmonies with the moving poem, “The Wind of Death.” Written by Canadian poet and journalist Ethelwyn Wetherald well over a century ago, the poem touches on the tenuous and reflective last moments of someone’s life.
The wind of death, that softly blows The last warm petal from the rose The last dry leaf from off the tree Tonight, has come to breathe on me
Respectively all known and loved Toronto-based artists in their own rights, lead songwriter, guitarist and composer Nathan Hiltz — and the vocal trio of Shannon Butcher, Jessica Lalonde and Melissa Lauren — have combined their formidable talents to form the creative core of Samways.
As they succinctly put it, they create and perform “acoustic music with lyrics drawn from early Canadian poetry.” What kinds of acoustic music and poetry? Original folk inspired jazz and the 19th and early 20th century works of famed Canadian poets such as Bliss Carman, Susannah Moodie, E.J. Pratt, Agnes Maule Machar and of course, Ethelwyn Wetherald.
The music for “The Wind of Death'' also comes from a mash-up of different worlds… The song answers a question: What would it sound like if Sonny Greenwich joined the Gordon Lightfoot band? Greenwich, an arch top jazz guitarist from Montréal with a psychedelic, Coltrane-influenced style, and Canadian folk legend Lightfoot, are both big inspirations for Hiltz.
While in his twenties, Hiltz was a jazz purist working at Toronto’s Ring Music, and Lightfoot used to come around to the shop. “I absolutely knew who [Lightfoot] was but had no idea what he sounded like,” Hiltz explains. “All I remember is this badass who parked his big, old-man Cadillac in the no parking zone out front of the store. “He came in and said ‘I’m Gordon Lightfoot. I’m here to pick up my guitar’.”
Those moments stuck with Hiltz and years later, as his musical tastes opened up, he devoured Lightfoot’s entire discography, citing his beautiful music as a driving force in the creation of Samways. Unlike the group’s first single “Untrodden Ways,” “The Wind of Death” is more akin to Lightfoot’s “Summer Side of Life” than “Long River.” Now, replace Lightfoot with three powerful female singers and you have Samways’ signature and fully-satisfying sound.
NYC-based dream-pop duo Phantom Handshakes are sharing their new album, No More Summer Songs, on all DSPs followed by a Bandcamp release on April 30th via Z Tapes.
No More Summer Songs is a collection of songs exploring themes of memory, nostalgia and the visceral feeling of when summer gives way to autumn. If Phantom Handshakes' debut release, Be Estranged was their summer album, this is their end-of-summer album.
The album expands on the lo-fi, DIY approach they took with Be Estranged. The songs on the album are less concerned with following a standard structure and more interested in a mood. For the duo, creating these songs was a cathartic outlet to help us get through these long months in lockdown.
No More Summer Songs was written, recorded and mixed entirely by Phantom Handshakes at their respective homes in New York City and mastered by Carl Saff at Saff Mastering in Chicago.
PACKS debut LP Take The Cake, is due out on Fire Talk Records (Dehd, Patio, Mamalarky) and Royal Mountain Records (Wild Pink, Alvvays, Mac DeMarco) on May 21st, and significant excitement has been building around the Toronto band since they announced the album in early March. The album has seen two singles so far in "Silvertongue" and "New TV," which have been the subject of some high praise! This week the band are sharing a third single from the LP, the sneakily infectious "Two Hands".
Memorably invoking a "Simpson's sunset" in its opening lyric, the track delivers a hazy jangle that forms the perfect frame for PACKS leader Madeline Link's laid back melodic acrobatics, and the accompanying video, which Link directed herself, reflects the song's springtime feeling.
PACKS was initially a solo songwriting project of Madeline Link that she pursued between gigs as a set dresser for commercials, the band is now a four piece, composed of Shane Hooper (drums), Noah O’Neil (bass), and Dexter Nash (lead guitar). Together they turn Link’s melodically adventurous and introspective songs into the purest and brightest kind of indie rock. Anchored by Link’s voice, which brings such an easy charm to her songs that it’s easy to miss her keen ear for acrobatic vocal lines, the band’s debut is a collection of songs that marry the loose but incisive jangle of early Pavement with the barbed sweetness of Sebadoh and the wide-eyed wonder of the first Shins LP.
Written in two different settings, between the city limits of Toronto where Link was living in 2019, and the Ottawa suburbs where she was quarantined with her parents in the spring 2020, both remain complementary emblems of self-reflection and wry observation of the mundanity of daily life.
It’s the sound of a song you half remember. A voice from some faraway radio. A glimpse of a now scratched record. You pause, reaching into that dark recess of memory for a brighter recollection, and return with nothing but the gnawing remembrance of something you’re sure you’ve forgotten. No satisfaction can be found: Sleepy Jean’s blend of American standard songwriting and folk sensibilities are unquestionably her own.
Borne from the bones of forgotten nostalgia, Sleepy Jean spent the better part of a decade frequenting tourist traps and hole-in-the-walls alike whilst sneakily sliding her self-penned songs amongst those of her contemporaries and reveries. Her wistful, smoky voice is equal parts Joni Mitchell and Etta James, and is known for that inimitable quality that evokes salty streams of tears and bloody bar fights alike. Her first recorded offering, Idle Hands, makes its way into the world midsummer 2021.
Idle Hands began as an exercise in self-soothing. The dawning of 2020’s Great Slowdown saw Jean watch her regular hustle and bustle as a working musician (playing over 250 dates a year!) disappear within the wink of an eye. In her effort to avoid the realities of global catastrophe, Sleepy turned inwards and spent the majority of her time dreaming up songs that felt comforting, yet addressed the anxieties and idiosyncrasies that peppered her newly empty days. “Hungry,” a sugary sardonic musing on social cannibalism, was the first to surface while “By the Oceanside,” a tribute to the harmonies of the Everly Brothers soon followed. Idle Hands sees Sleepy exploring her love of 1960’s folk music (“Smaller,” “I Don’t Belong”) while paying homage to the likes of Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald (“Moonshine,” “Downer.”) The final track, “How’s it All Gonna End,” is both an ode to the Truman Show and an unnerving waltz that swells with a tension filled current as she ponders that titular, existential question.
Sleepy partnered with long time collaborator Dan Serre (Cat Clyde, Shitbats) to record and mix the majority of the 7 song extended play over the course of 2 months within the confines of a spare bedroom. Russ Donohue (Stonehouse Studios) aided in additional mixing, and mastering was completed by Kristian Montano (Montano Mastering) in Toronto, ON. Drums and vibraphone were provided by Marshall Bureau (Great Lake Swimmers, Jill Barber), with additional playing from Kaelin Murphy (trumpet), Phil Bosley (upright bass) and Al Aguilar (synthesizers). A long-play is expected to follow in early 2022.
Los Angeles native artist Joe Cardamone has lived a few lifetimes while leaving a wiry dent in the global underground music and film scenes. The band that Joe fronted for 17 years, The Icarus Line, formed in East Los Angeles in 1998. Over the course of six albums the punk agitators became an underground phenomenon and the most dangerous, if not the greatest, punk group of their generation. The cult band the never gave up.
Performances at the Reading and Leeds Festivals in front of 30,000+ fans, multiple appearances on the legendary John Peel show, criss-crossing the US in a van opening a stadium tour for A Perfect Circle and The Cult and a UK tour with Primal Scream are just some of the “greatest hits” of a legend loaded with nearly mythic live performances and chaos. But it was the death of guitarist/original member Alvin DeGuzman in 2017 following a long battle with cancer, which was the actual end of The Icarus Line (a demise recently depicted in Michael Grodner’s independent film “The Icarus Line Must Die” which is now streaming on Amazon and Hulu).
The following year Joe released his solo debut, the frenzied Holy War album and film on his own imprint American Primitive. Cardamone’s new approach was a modern one man show that forged R&B and crushing electronics with the combative spirit of his formative punk years. While crafting a pair of follow up albums in 2020 the world stopped and the QUARENTINA project emerged in response. Outside of his work as an artrist Joe has produced and collaborated with some of the greatest artists of our time including Mark Lanegan, Ian Astbury, Warren Ellis (Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds) and James Williamson (The Stooges).
Faiyaz and the Wasted Chances are a POC fronted Toronto punk band that have been described as a raw garage pop band with virtuosic protopunk influences, cheekily modded for today’s listeners.
Their sound falls somewhere between Warhol pre-punk and the Toronto DIY indie that they flowered in. The band’s raucous, rough-around-the-edges appeal is concisely painted.
Raised in the downtown core, the band cut their teeth as young underaged punks playing the original Silver Dollar Room, The Horseshoe Tavern, Lee’s Palace, and any other willing hole-in-the-wall in Canada.
Through relentless mini tours and studio EPs in famed studios 6 Nassau, Candle Recording, and Lootbag Studios, the band gained the cult following that have allowed them to play alongside larger more reputable acts. They are currently on Lootbag Records alongside many great artists.
Glasgow based Dundonian Jeshua (Joshua Gray) is set to release his effervescent debut album Unreliable Narrator on June 4th with the fourth single from the album, ‘Esther’, an ode to the singer’s Grandmother, due on April 28th.
Unreliable Narrator beguiles with layers of delightfully hazy guitar pop, whisking you off you feet with an assured aloofness and a wistful beauty that is only seen rarely in guitar albums these days.
Jeshua’s introspective dream-pop encapsulates the everyday experiences of a fly-on- the-wall shop assistant, drawing from feelings of disconnection and the need for distraction from programmed living.
Singles so far, ‘Feel-So-Alive’, ‘Waste Away’ and ‘IDK’, have gained both local and national airplay, notably being championed by Vic Galloway (Radio Scotland) and Shell Zenner (BBC Introducing/Amazing Radio) and featured on Spotify editorial playlists.
“Each song has a specified meaning and all of them are connected, I think it sums up a ten year period of my life and how I was feeling about life and death, with the lyrics being an exercise of reflection.
Abby K is back and defining herself to say it is MY time. I am taking control and you will hear me! "Pay Attention" is a rock anthem delivered to the proverbial board of trustees as if to say- "I know what I want, I know what I am doing, NOW listen because I have the rock and I need to roll. Nothing you say or do is taking me off my drive!" Clearly, Abby K is making her statement and it is time for the music insiders to "Pay Attention"!
Without a doubt, Abby K is a strong female-fronted hard rock/metal band continuing to blaze the trail like Lzzy Hale, Lita Ford, and other great female rockers have! '"Pay Attention" is the ultimate “I’m here, now LISTEN” song! It is catchy while also being a hard-hitting rock song that you can’t help but bang your head to. Powerful hooks and shredding guitar solos belong in rock music and we’re bringing them back! We want to show the world that we’re here to stay and we won’t stop until we reach the top. So you’d better pay attention!"'
Abby K is a bassist, vocalist, and songwriter from Charlotte, North Carolina. She picked up the bass at age 13 after being influenced by Gene Simmons at a KISS Concert. Months into her musical journey, she was 1 of 3 bassists in the United States selected to attend GRAMMY Camp in Los Angeles, CA. Abby was soon later invited by the producers of America’s Got Talent to audition for the show. She claims that her proudest moment was when Nita Strauss joined her onstage to perform Iron Maiden’s “The Trooper”. Since then, she has developed her own style of musicianship which is commonly described as the love child of Steve Harris (Iron Maiden) and Lita Ford.
In the spring of 2021, Abby K became an independent artist and announced that Crispy Borell and Diego Vargas will be joining the band as co-lead guitarists. Recently, the new lineup released the title track of their upcoming album, “Pay Attention” as a single. Join Abby and the band on this incredible journey of theirs by following @abbykrocks on all social media.
Dr. Fabola is a Manchester based singer/songwriter whose upbeat acoustic pop is laced with rootsy folk,world music and jazz. His intricate finger picking and soft,soulful vocals combine effortlessly into a sweet feel good vibe that has drawn comparisons to Jack Johnson, Tracy Chapman and Nina Simone.
"You could say I wrote my latest single 'No Tomorrow' as a reminder - a note to self - to be kind, to love others, to love myself, to laugh and just live life to the fullest. Does this sound basic? Like "Live, Laugh, Love"?
Well, that's the idea; the good life is meant to be basic, but we over complicate things, and this song is a reminder of just how simple and beautiful life can be. Laugh like there's no one watching, and love like there's no tomorrow."
Paul Shepherd and Owen Marchildon have spent the last twenty years in the Toronto music scene, playing in various different projects, sometimes together and sometimes separately. While thinking on a new project, Val Calam was invited to join and collaborate with the pair. Calam was just the lift Shepherd and Marchildon needed. After several dinner parties with endless music listening, they discussed their strengths and aspirations and High Wasted came to fruition.
Together, they blend simple punk tones and exploratory lyrics that push towards a velvet induced frame of mind, approaching the recording process with an energetic, transcending mentality.
High Wasted’s debut single, “Germ Free High Fives,” showcases the band’s sonic capabilities and musical lyricism. It’s energy is peddled by a tattered charm, a feeling of pleasant dizziness, that may leave the listener to encompass decades of past classics.
We have some sunny dreampop from the French indiepop band Pastel Coast. The first single "Sunset" debuted at Austin Town Hall early last week with the video debut last Friday at French outlet Magic Revue Pop Moderne. A track that brings to mind American dreampop bands like the Drums, Wild Nothing, and Craft Spells.
From the shores of Boulogne-sur-mer, Pastel Coast are looking toward the sea. Quentin Isidore and his band surf waves of indiepop with waves of crashing guitars, taking influences from bands like Phoenix and Air, with their own fresh "à la française” sound.
After their debut album, Hovercraft, the band was nominated in the TOP 10 emerging French artists for the Paris’ Ricard price foundation and for the auditions of the "Inouïs du Printemps de Bourges", Pastel Coast are coming back in 2021 with a new opus entitled Sun that will be released on Shelflife / Groover Obsessions on June 4th.
Norway’s Frøkedal & Family share Set Your Spirit Free, an awakening both sonically and spiritually, and the third taster taken from forthcoming album ‘Flora’ which follows 14th May, Fysisk Format.
Lauren Lavern once described Frøkedal as sounding like “Fleetwood Mac getting on pretty well with Joni Mitchell”. It’s a description apt for new single Set Your Spirit Free melding as it does Frøkedal’s indie-rock heritage (I Was A King, Harrys Gym) with folk traditions, taking roots instrumentation, a meandering melody and Frøkedal’s gloriously ethereal overlaid vocal and building it skywards, layer upon layer heavenwards.
However, Set Your Spirit Free also inhabits its own transcendental and somewhat magical world, it is a song described by Frøkedal as “the dam that bust.” Born on day seven of ten consecutive days in the studio, it marks the turning point where the chronology of the studio diary disintegrated with the song triggering an experimental free-falling and unstoppable avalanche of overdubs, cümbüş, whistle piano, high strung, congas, chimes. “Shortly afterwards, the studio diary mentions something about paranoia” explains Frøkedal, “but the way I remember it, this was one of the happiest days we spent in the studio.”
Set Your Spirit Free was born out of a deep human connectivity, it’s the organic, heartfelt and intuitive sound of Frøkedal & Family letting loose and setting themselves free.
“We know the mind is able to move mountains. That the souls of all living things are connected through invisible links. There is a language that is understandable to all creatures. This is the song we sing to those of you who have forgotten.” - Frøkedal.
The Felice Brothers released their first new single in two years "Inferno" alongside an official video composed of found footage edited by Ian Felice. The song, out today via Yep Roc Records, reflects on the half-forgotten memories that shift and morph in the mind as we age, and is their first new music since the release of their critically-acclaimed 2019 album Undress.
"This song, more than anything, is about the persistence of certain mundane memories, and how they take on hidden meaning and significance, how their symbols become part of our inner lives, and how they are transformed in our minds," explains Ian Felice. "It’s also about youth and growth and transformation. Memories of the film are obscured through the lens of time. Does Jean Claude Van Damm actually ride a motorcycle along the banks of the Rio Grande? I don’t recall, but still I have this image in my mind. I just remember how horrible the movie was. The two characters in the song are transformed into swans in the final verse, in a dream, as they are swept into the fire of another, more frightening reality."
"Inferno" was produced by The Felice Brothers, engineered by James Felice and Nate Wood, and mixed by Mike Mogis (Bright Eyes, Phoebe Bridgers). The song also sees the continuation of the new lineup of the band that debuted with Undress, consisting of Ian Felice, who shares songwriting and vocal duties in the band with his brother James Felice, bassist Jesske Hume (Conor Oberst, Jade Bird) and drummer Will Lawrence.
The Felice Brothers’ Undress was acclaimed by No Depression, Consequence of Sound, American Songwriter, Paste Magazine, PopMatters, Talkhouse, and Rolling Stone who called it “their best album in years.” NPR Music said “With Undress, The Felice Brothers' folk-rock sound and vision has matured and focused, and the band does its best at making sense of our modern times.”
New Skin. It’s not just a title. It’s a state of mind, an accurate summation of the position in which Ivor Novello Award-winning songwriter Scott Matthews finds himself with the release of his seventh studio album on May 14th 2021. The man who specialises in conveying the emotional complexities of love and loss in sparse, warm-hearted acoustic songs has shed another skin. Reborn in a new guise, circumstances have forced fundamental reinvention.
Covid-19 was the catalyst. A life-changing event that forced Matthews to reassess, he decided to scale a musical Everest, setting himself new challenges, digging deeper than before to find new ways to communicate through song. Unable to tour or collaborate with musicians, he had only his own head space in which to operate. And so, he created ‘New Skin’, a daring and audacious record swathed in Eno-esque electronica and Thom Yorke-centric uncovering that channels the driving energy of ‘80s Springsteen. Rock and ambient. Acoustic and electro. Matthews fuses insistent guitars and pulsing beats with the sort of angular, early ‘80s synths that Vince Clarke pioneered. It is bold and fearless, experimental, and compelling. ‘New Skin’ inhabits a rare terrain.
The first track to be unveiled from the album, the title track ‘New Skin’ picked up Radio X & BBC 6 Music Breakfast Show airplay plus support from a plethora of music blogs and sites, winning over critics and fans alike to Scott’s new sonic exploration, including legendary former Cocteau Twins member and Bella Union boss Simon Raymonde, who has subsequently invited Scott to perform at his next ‘Lost Horizons’ show later this year.
Second single from the album ‘Wait In The Car’ explores the human fear of nothing lasting forever, while portraying a euphoric energy that drives the listener into feeling they can break free. With its soaring synthesizers and ambient electric guitars resonant of the Cocteau Twins, the emotional resonance and driving energy of ‘Wait in the Car’, will inhabit a place in every soul as Matthews masterfully interlaces melancholy and euphoria.
The director of the ‘Wait In The Car’ video, Damien Hyde, unearthed the beautiful 8mm home movies filmed by Ellwood P. Hoffmann. They were masterfully shot and such a beautiful celebration of life. The portrayal of a life’s potential lost opportunities and the fleeting nature of our experiences informed the decision to play the movies backwards. In Damien’s words, ‘The home movies are, to me, a testament of bravery in the face of fear. This is an allegorical road movie. The tenderness and joy in some of these scenes is truly remarkable. Those fleeting moments of beauty captured, and replayed and repurposed decades later, are the by-products of endless rumination, doubt and vulnerability.’
It's been 14 years since the release of Matthews’ stunning debut, ‘Passing Stranger’, a record that prompted tours with the Foo Fighters, Robert Plant and Rufus Wainwright and earned his Ivor Novello for the timeless ‘Elusive’. Since then, through the daring ‘Elsewhere’ and the immersive ‘What the Night Delivers’, through his affectionate ‘Home’ Part I & II song cycle and his thoughtful and elegiac ‘The Great Untold’, Matthews has refined his craft. Having mastered the art of the song, he’s given himself permission to take flight by making a record that will surprise and astonish, delight and mesmerise.
Yet for all his adventures in electronica, ‘New Skin’ is at heart a record of classy songs. Yes, the treatment is different. Yes, it will take listeners into a new space, just as it provided Matthews with new aural adventures. Yet above all, it’s a collection of songs written by one of our greatest craftsmen.
Australian eclectic chamber indie folk sister duo Charm of Finches have just released “Treading Water”, the single is a part of their upcoming full length album set for release later this year.
“Treading Water” captures the bittersweet reminiscing of a relationship that was mutually ended. The journey takes the listener across the city of Melbourne, while navigating across the trickier emotional terrain as they transition from lovers to friends. The song features tender layered vocals, dreamy melodies, and creative instrumentation that is soul-bearing, immersive, and fluid. The duo are signed to AntiFragile and have found success being added to official Spotify playlists including Fresh Folk, Lush + Etheral and Acoustic Spring among others.
Melbourne sister duo, Charm of Finches, sing haunted folk tunes about love, grief and whispering trees with their signature tight sibling harmonies and chamber folk sound. Mabel and Ivy Windred-Wornes emerge from an eclectic musical childhood of Celtic strings and busking old-time tunes.
Their debut album “Staring at the Starry Ceiling", produced by Nick Huggins of Little Lake Records and featuring the duo's signature angelic vocal harmonies and captivating chamber folk sound, was praised for its candour and originality and named one of the best releases of 2016 by ABC Radio National. Their sophomore album “Your Company” in November 2019 on their independent label Conversations With Trees, they toured Australia widely. This album was Melbourne's PBS Radio Album of the Week and winner of the Best Folk/Singer-Songwriter Album in the Independent Music Awards (IMA).
The duo has won many awards nationally and internationally and their music has featured on Australian TV. Their influences include Sufjan Stevens , Gillian Welch, Danish songstress Agnes Obel and First Aid Kit as well as the incredible home grown talent in their local Victorian folk scene.
New York’s Simone is revealing the 3rd song “everything/nothing” from her upcoming pure pop love lessons EP which will come out this summer. At 16, after releasing her first alt-pop track "Kissing Strangers" earlier this year and she revealed “Boy Of My Dreams”. Simone writes with a cinematic eye here, capturing the rough edges of modern relationships in vivid detail.
Simone explains the song: “everything/nothing” tells a story about a young love from its beginning to its end. In the chorus, I play with the clichés of teen romance by contrasting them with the anxiety and pain that comes along with it. On the surface, the song is a classic love story, but there are a lot of underlying messages about the pressure and confusion that comes with being a teenager.”
At 10 years old, her worldview opened up to become a performer when she sang 2 self-written songs at an open mic in Nashville, TN. Needless to say that from an early age, New York-based Simone has set her vision on sharing her love for music. “Kissing Strangers”s arrangements are sonically rich to match, mixing radio-ready pop hooks with indie rock grit and singer/songwriter intimacy. “Kissing Strangers” is a buoyant, brilliant earworm exploring the rise and fall of young love in all its exhilarating, heartbreaking transience. About “Boy Of My Dreams”, she said: “it’s a song I wrote after ending a relationship that really damaged my perception of love.”
Born and raised in New York City, Simone first fell in love with Broadway as a youngster. By the age of ten, she’d already appeared in a slew of musicals, and by the time she hit middle school, she was writing her own songs and performing regularly at New York open mic nights, such as Sidewalk Cafe. It was at one of those early performances that Simone caught the attention of a New York-based producer, and soon she found herself recording in a proper studio and making waves across Spotify and social media. With a mix of mesmerizing performance clips and down-to-earth, straight-to-camera videos documenting daily life, she quickly went viral on TikTok (247k followers), racking up millions of likes from fans around the world who could relate to both her unabashed ambition and dry, self-deprecating sense of humor.
Simone’s musically diverse songwriting styles from acoustic teary to pop bops will be part of her upcoming full love lessons EP this summer. Besides writing, she hosts a weekly podcast Is This Thing On?.
Heralded Scottish rock band We Were Promised Jetpacks share brand new single ‘If It Happens’, and announce a 7” featuring the track to be released via Big Scary Monsters on June 29th. The new track signifies a change in musical direction for the band. ‘If It Happens’ is all at once grand yet restrained – sonically reflective of its lyrical examination of the bigger picture of life and how that can be boiled down to a simple phrase; “If it happens, it happens.” Lead singer Adam Thompson explains:
“I feel that ‘If It Happens’ expresses a lot about what I had been trying to get across to myself. It was all part of my new mindset of trying to be more positive about what I have and not always thinking about what I don’t. It’s about embracing the idea of happiness, doing what you can to encourage it and generally be a lot more ‘c’est la vie’ about everything. If it happens, it happens; if it doesn’t, it doesn’t. What can you do?”
Since releasing 2018’s ‘The More I Sleep The Less I Dream’, We Were Promised Jetpacks’ Adam Thompson, Sean Smith and Darren Lackie have embraced change head-on. Amicably parting ways with founding member Michael Palmer the following year, they knew they would likely need to go through a sonic transition.
Entering 2020 as a trio with a handful of songs written and a successful US tour under their belts, the world around them came to a sudden halt. Yet despite the unquestionable uncertainty that the lockdown brought, it also proved to be a blessing in disguise. Fifteen years into their career, the trio are more focussed than ever.
With versions of this song being passed between the band members remotely, they found the collaborative process engaging and rewarding. “Writing together this way allowed us to stay in contact all the time, talk about the song and what we were individually and collectively trying to achieve with it. Even though we were unable to be in the same room, this way of working allowed us to create together and communicate more directly,” says Adam. “Having music to focus on during lockdown assured us that we wanted to keep writing songs together for many more years.”
“We’re all very appreciative of the people who are listening to us,” Darren says. “It pushes us to keep getting better.” Nodding to both the band and their ever-loyal fans, Adam agrees. “It is very much our band, and we do this because we can do it together.”
"Supersonic" is the second single off of Spud Cannon's forthcoming LP, Good Kids Make Bad Apples, out June 25th via Good Eye Records.
Recorded as a part of an all-nighter, one-take, not-campus-approved sessions on a squash court at the band's now alma mater, Vassar College, "Supersonic" captures the band's family dynamic
Ari Bowe (keys, vocals) details; "Since the girls write all the lyrics, we always end up writing about the guys in the band. It’s almost like a rite of passage, and for us it’s a fun way to get our feelings out there. There are a lot of songs about Jackson, but this song is Ben’s debut as our subject!
It’s about us all being worried that Ben (with his newfound party persona) would get himself in more trouble than he could handle. Hence 'Good luck doing time for a big smile.' The lyrics definitely embody a sort of cheeky warning to our beloved Ben.
While he was pissed at first, he came to understand where the lyrics were coming from, and the song is now one of his top tracks from Good Kids.”
David Climaco Garcia - Down By Her Riverside Home.
David Climaco Garcia announces the release of the gentle Americana tune, “Down by Her Riverside Home” on May 6. Built on a traditional Irish ballad song structure, the single provides an interlude from grief through the comforts of nature.
The single was released exclusively on Bandcamp in honor of Earth Day. Before the official May 6 release, proceeds will be donated to the non-profit wilderness advocacy group, New Mexico Wilderness Alliance. The single is off the album, Between the Devil and Me, due out this summer.
Written about the upper Gila River that flows through 45 miles of pristine wilderness, it tells the story of a widow who lived on the river with her daughter, who was lost in a tragic accident. Soothing vocals and instrumentals mimic the woman wandering the river’s banks, trying to find solace and commune with her lost child amongst the trees.
An open, droning sound and a signature Celtic fiddle part played by Garcia’s wife, Nikelle Garcia, contributes to the interminable sadness at the intersection of life and death. Alex Mcmahon (The Handsome Family) contributed pedal steel remotely.
Hey hey! Spirits rejoice! It’s a new Dag album. And something is going on here - there’s a new Dag in town. It’s that thing when singer/songwriter Dusty Anastassiou walks on stage, talks into the mic and the room just kinda melts ‘cause everyone knows this guy has got us all covered - he’s with you and of us and he sounds at peace with the crumbling passage of your day. Well, it’s that thing, but beautifully recorded for posterity and spread across two platters of vinyl (yes two!) to warm the cockles of your broken heart.
But it’s much more too. Lifetones in the key of three - a band that’s so snug you don’t even notice there are three of them. These pups are from the same litter. They’ve got the group-think glue, Dan Ford and Dave McMillan sewing it all up seamlessly with the Dust. But you still want more! That’s the beauty of recording songs - you can have a bit more, and it’s all here friend. Field recordings of a distant storm, Nicole Thibault’s trombone, violin from Lily Tait, casiotone tinkly bop courtesy of Stefan Blair, spot-on extra vox from Liv Jansz and Francisca Castro-Merino, plaintive keys over a decaying mumbled voice - that lovely double album stretch-out.
"Big Plans (Little Hands) is about the joys of falling in love, finding peace and comfort in connecting with someone completely — and the false promise of escaping your self through someone else. Who better to represent these complex emotions than our friends the teddies?" - Dusty Anastassiou, Dag
As you read this, Dusty is most likely somewhere near a small town called Munduberra, and there’s no mistaking this album is an Australian record - think The Cannanes circa Randell Lee (or indeed Ashtray Boy) via rural Queensland and you might have a starting point musically. Maybe there is some regional AM country radio in here? I wouldn’t know. I do know Dusty used to take long drives through the deep Australian night with his Mum while Harold Budd played on the car stereo. So there’s a bit of depth beneath the mystery of Dag. “The sad old planet has seen better days" sings Captain Dusty - but as Albert Ayler let us know, music is the healing force of the universe. So get a dose of Dag in your day!
